MOL takes delivery of eco-friendly wood chip carrier

Japanese shipping major Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL) has taken delivery of a new wood chip carrier from local shipyard Oshima Shipbuilding Co.

The vessel has been named Vanguardia and will transport wood chips for Daio Paper Corporation and operated by MOL.

It has an LOA of 209.96 metres, a beam of 37 metres, a deadweight of 60,222 tonnes, and a total cargo capacity of approximately 121,000 cubic metres.

The vessel is equipped with a SOx scrubber and ballast water management system (BWMS) and is already compliant with the Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) Phase 3 to meet International Maritime Organisation’s (IMO) environmental regulations, according to MOL.

In EEDI Phase 3, which will be applicable to wood chip carriers contracted after 2025, the vessels will be required to achieve a 30% reduction in CO2 emissions from the EEDI baseline in their design phase.

The shipping giant revealed that the unit features “a seaworthy bow that reduces the decline in vessel speed during adverse weather and advanced flipper fins, energy-saving equipment to improve propulsion efficiency.“

Furthermore, the wood chip carrier has “propeller boss cap fins (PBCF) in addition to adopting an electronically controlled engine and low-friction ship bottom paint.”

The environmental specifications of the ship are also in line with MOL’s environmental vision by which the company plans to deploy net-zero emissions ocean-going vessels in the 2020s.

As disclosed earlier, the implementation of the vision will be connected with the company’s management plan under which MOL has earmarked an approximately ¥200 billion ($ 1.81 billion) investment in the low carbon and decarbonization fields over the three years from 2021 to 2023.